New restaurant Begam to open on Malop St after closure of Biryani King

A new Indian restaurant is coming to the CBD after patrons of the owner’s Melbourne venue begged them to open in Geelong.

Brothers Parmjit and Gurpreet Singh are opening a new Indian restaurant where Biryani King once stood. Picture: Mark Wilson

A new Indian restaurant in Geelong’s CBD is promising to deliver a “royal dining experience” just weeks after the previous tenant was forced to shut its doors.

The Supreme Court ordered Bharat Cafe Geelong — trading as Biryani King at 39 Malop St — on March 13 to wind up the company.

Now, Begam, which has no connection to Biryani King, will be brought to life by brothers Parmjit and Gurpreet Singh.

The duo also own and operate Divine Darbar on Lygon St, which has a 4.7 star rating on Google from 399 reviews.

The Geelong eatery, which is expected to open in early April, was born out of popular demand.

“We’ve got a huge group of people from Geelong … and they just insisted on us opening here,” Gurpreet said.

“The customers try our food and like it … but they say it’s very hard to travel to Melbourne and they can’t come every week.”

Begam signage out the front of the Malop St eatery, which is due to open in early April. Picture: Mark Wilson

Gurpreet said he felt emboldened to make the move because of the loyalty shown by residents.

“What we have observed is the local community help local businesses here — that’s one of the motivations for us,” he said.

Parmjit Singh said the opportunity to establish not just a restaurant, but a relationship with locals was important to him.

“A lot of good communities are building up here; we want to be a part of that and see how we can benefit them,” he said.

To Parmjit, the “royal dining experience” is, somewhat ironically, not a fancy thing.

Instead, it means authentic, fresh food that speaks to the soul.

“You can decorate the plate however you want but at the end of the day it’s about the food you get served,” he said.

“We don’t even have a freezer; we don’t believe in it … we want to do authentic food and that means nothing is microwaved or frozen.”

Parmjit said his aim was to transport people back to their childhood home in India.

“As a kid, your mother’s special dish just gave you that warm, fuzzy feeling … that’s what its about,” he said.

“If I can’t serve it to my own family, if I can’t eat it myself, I won’t send it out.

“We are just putting a little bit of heritage on a plate.”

Originally published as New restaurant Begam to open on Malop St after closure of Biryani King